ts, you don’t know anything!
Yazawa-san smiled wryly.
But, as it stands, you look like a politician who lacks explanatory skills to explain his philosophy to high school students
What?
Our conversation’s been recorded by the cameras. If Kouzuki Kakka were to see this, then I don’t think he would support Murata-san personally, or politically
recording? This was recorded?
Is there a problem?
Yazawa-san looked at the clock.
I’ll give you five more minutes, explain to this high school student in simple terms what kind of politics do you want to pursue
Oh, so that’s why Jii-chan brought me here.
If a politician can’t make me understand his views, he’s not worth helping.
Then, I’ll listen for five minutes. What’s the selling point of the political party you’re about to launch, Murata-san?
Selling point?
What I mean is; what makes you think that you’re better than the existing ones?
Governor Murata;
Well, we have a sense of urgency about a dying Japan.
I don’t need those non-specific answers
Then.
What sense us apart from the existing parties is that we have a business sense!
The secretary opens his mouth on behalf of governor Murata.
Before running for governor, Murata-sensei was an international political commentator who appeared on TV and in magazines. He’s the representative of Murata politics and economics private school, and is a businessman who holds paid email newsletters, lectures, and seminars all over Japan
Oh, I see.
More than half of the members of Diet who are going to launch a new party together with Murata-sensei has experience in business management
that’s right. Hayashi-kun’s started a major yakiniku chain. Kaneda-kun started a successful pachinko parlor. Hirabayashi-kun who hit the jackpot with his mobile game company
Governor Murata said.
It’s mostly entrepreneurs who started a company on their own and succeeded in developing their business, and managers who inherited and advanced their parent’s business
So, what good can come from a political party with such people?
I asked.
You should know that right? Entrepreneurs are insightful and quick-witted. You see, if you let the bureaucrats in the office take care of things, they decide too slow! Politics without a sense of speed will not be able to cope with the 21st century! In my opinion, the future of Japanese politics should be run by those who have experience in private management. I mean, that’s how everyone thinks Oh look, he’s gone back to being talkative.
Governor Murata sure talks a lot when he gets carried away.
In the 20th century, private Japanese businessmen traveled around the world to sell Japanese products, which helped develop post-war Japan. The politicians and bureaucrats did nothing but drag the private sector down. Therefore, in the 21st century, capable people who have experience in managing companies in the private sector, and have developed their own companies to a great extent should become politicians and take control of the nation! That’s the obvious answer for anyone who thinks!
I wonder about that?
But you see, in the private sector, a single decision from the top management can bring down the whole company! It’s not a lukewarm world like the bureaucracy where you can waste hundreds of millions of yen and not lose your job. People who have fought and won in the tough economic world can be trusted to run the country’s politics with more confidence! Successful entrepreneurs are heroes! All of them! If people like them don’t rise to the world of politics, then Japan will be destroyed!
Does this guy want to save Japan or crash it down?
It’s getting harder to understand.
In fact, in my prefecture. Well, you should already know this since it’s all over the news, but more and more people from the private sector are brought to the city hall. To rebuild the sodden government officials, more managers from top facilities are recruited to the public, and some facilities outsourced their operations to the private sector. Yes, of course, we’ve had reports of improvements in all of the operations!
Governor Murata said.
Don’t you mean the report you produced?
Yazawa-san said.
I know that it’s been reported to the press that some of the facilities that were headed by private groups had problems and some of them already left
No, some of them just happened to be from the private sector, and most of them have been successful in improving the services of the facilities, changing the mindset of the workers there! It’s been a great success! Media and professors from various universities have already supported my reform and acknowledged my success!
Governor Murata rebutted.
As expected, it can’t be always bureaucrats all the time. People who know the intensity of the private sector has to be the ones guiding on top
Hmm.
That’s why I want to spread the reforms I’m doing in the prefecture to the national! Aggressive recruitment of the private department! Rather, I want all the department heads and above in the ministries to be people with proven track records in the private sector! It’s the bureaucracy that’s undermining this country! We want to aggressively introduce the blood of the private sector into the nation!
I.
I get it. So it’s completely broken
Yep, no good.
Yes, that’s right! We can’t leave it to the bureaucrats at all!
That’s not what I meant. I was talking about your way of thinking, Murata-san
I said.
Huh?
Murata looked at me with a surprised face.
No, I think that your reform is only working because it’s only in one local province, but.
No, it’s not as successful as Governor Murata says it is. The public thinks it’s working because governor Murata repeatedly called the media to show that it’s succeeding, that it’s improving. But if you check the minor details, you’ll see that his debt is increasing, and the policy plans have failed and are in debt. It’s already criticized by media and researchers everywhere Yazawa-san told me.
No, that’s not it! Wait! Why are you insisting that it’s bad! I’m still in the middle of the reform! Even if you evaluate it halfway.
Aren’t you evaluating yourself as successful halfway?
I said.
Yes! My reforms are highly appreciated!
Meaning, there’s a certain amount of media and researchers who trust what governor Murata’s saying.
On the other hand, there’s also what Yazawa-san said, that there are critical media and researchers.
Either way, it isn’t as successful as governor Murata says it is.
That’s obvious.
I guess the part where they talk about the bureaucracy routine has become relaxed
Yazawa-san said.
That doesn’t mean that private companies are all strict and decent places to work either
I think it’s too much to assume that people with more experience in the private sector are more competent than government officials.
Well, it can’t be helped, Murata-san’s a former cultural entertainer after all
Yazawa-san said with a sigh.
Oh, governor Murata says that he runs his own company, but.
The truth is, he doesn’t have any experience working in the private sector.
what?
I.
Private companies vary greatly in size, and type of business don’t they?
Yes, some huge companies have departments that are even more lukewarm and unproductive than the bureaucrats
Also, private companies and government offices are fundamentally different things
Can you explain?
Yazawa-san tells me.
Yes. In private companies, they can do as many drastic things as they want at the discretion of the management. That’s what Murata-san’s explaining as speed. But on the other hand, when they fail, they turn bankrupt
I’m already starting to study management to open the bakery with Katsuko-nee.
It’s bankruptcy. A manager’s miscalculation risks the company collapsing. Nobody will help them
But.
But that’s not how the government works. If you make a bold decision that ends up with huge debt as a result. The government won’t be the one under, but the citizens
There are already cities that’ve gone bankrupt as a result of loose management. The results are awful, higher taxes while the resident services are declining
Yazawa-san said.
That’s why bureaucracy is not a place to make mistakes in decisions. Therefore, they’re careful, taking time before they make a decision
That’s how the government works so it’s inevitable, it’s different from the private sector
In bureaucracy, people with the same mindset as those in the private sector are sent in through open recruitment and the higher-ups order them to do this, do that, at the same speed in the private sector.that’ll cause confusion in place
Just like what’s happening in your prefecture, putting into action whenever you come up with a plan on the spur of the moment can fail, and cause tens of millions of debt in just one case
Governor Murata’s listening to our conversation with a mouth opened wide.
But because of the size of the prefecture, I don’t think it has reached the point of collapse yet. However, if Murata-san expands that to a national scale
Since the size of the budget will be different. It will be terrible
I don’t think that bureaucracy is great either, but.
I just had a war with some bureaucrats recently.
But, I don’t think that they’re people you can make fun of
They’re familiar with running the nation as a business.
And so, Murata-san’s starting a political party with entrepreneurs, but.
I.
Does running a chain of food stores, or a pachinko parlor, or making mobile games add anything to being a politician?
No, it’s because they made their companies and succeeded! They’ve trained their employees and gone through the trials and tribulations of running a business
I stopped governor Murata from speaking.
That’s amazing, yes. But, their company succeeded in that type of industry. Right?
I looked at governor Murata in the eye and said.
There’s no overlap in what they need to do as a politician, is there?
Why?
Ah.
What I mean is, a person who succeeded in bakery business can’t just start a shipbuilding company next
I said.
It has the same significance in company management, but the substance is different, see?
Substance?
Governor Murata’s dumbfounded.
Bakeries have daily income. Daily production, daily profit. However, if you keep selling only cheap food, your daily profit will be lacking. Your employees will be limited. You don’t need that many experts in bread baking. You’ll have to hire some partime workers just to sell the products, but.
I said.
But in the shipbuilding business, money doesn’t come in every day, see? It takes months to build a ship, and that’s when the money comes in one big payment. And so, you need enough money in your budget to pay the wage and materials for the workers for the months until you get paid. Your employees are all professionals and require a high level of technical skills The scopes of the companies are different. Their connection to banks too
Yazawa-san said.
Well then, let’s say Murata-san, that you’re a man who owned a small bakery, and you became successful because the pastries are delicious. Since you’re a successful manager, do you think that you can run a shipbuilding company as well?
There’s no way I can
Governor Murata said. Then I;
Yes, if you understand that running a bakery is different from running a shipbuilding company, then you’ll be able to learn from scratch and do well
Giving instructions to the partime bakery ladies, and.
Dealing with the engineers at the shipyard should be completely different.
If I manage the shipbuilding company, with the same know-how on the bakery, far from that, if I were to aggressively apply what I know and gained from the bakery to the shipbuilding company, the company would be a mess
I said.
It’s the same with food chains and national politics. Even the most amazing chain store is on a different scale than a national operation. The way you instruct partime workers in a store can’t be useful in giving instructions to the bureaucrats of the state. The scale and industry are different
While at it, the success of running a business has a strong element of luck
Yazawa-san.
It could be that the company you run just happens to fit the needs of the era. Then, times change. Your current success may not last forever
That’s.
Some companies that were strong in the ’80s, like consumer electronics manufacturers, and major distributors such as supermarkets are all swallowed up by others and are no longer around. They’re a company whose founder family was hailed as the darlings of the times
Yazawa-san said.
It could be a food chain, pachinko parlor, or mobile game company. They can start their own business, or inherit a business from their parents and become successful. Congratulations to them. But, that success is already in the past. A person who succeeds once is not necessarily going to succeed again. And it’s shallow to think that you can move the politics of a country in the future based on past success Governor Murata looked down.
If you’re serious about being a politician, then show more enthusiasm. Realize that you’re only half of a politician. If you keep dragging your past success, you’ll be forever in your food chain, pachinko chain, or mobile game business. You’ll never become a politician
Then, he told governor Murata;
How long are you going to stay as a cultural entertainer?